Re: Engines Earl ran, places he worked...

drgw0579 Wrote:
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> RC&BT is a nice train ride, and from Palo Alto
> area, where I lived from 1980-85, it was a fun
> trip on my Honda CB750F. The day I took that
> photo was in the later part of the summer,
> probably in 1983 (I'll have to go look for the
> slide that has the date). That was probably a
> Sunday afternoon, and they were running two
> trains, being very busy. I was also in fairly
> good shape so I could chase the train on foot and
> beat it on the different levels as it climbed the
> mountain. The disadvantage to that is the area is
> full of poison oak, and the next day, I was a
> mess.
>
> I do remember this train also had the diesel on
> the other end and they had to stop at the switch
> back to allow the steam pressure to get back up.
>
> Someday, I'll have to post all my photos from the
> RC&BT.
>
> Bill Kepner

The stop at the switchback was to get the water level up in the boilers on the engines. They were not designed to go from 8% up grade to 9% + - backwards. One stopped at Spring Canyon and with the blowers roaring away filled the water to the top of the glass, while still facing upgrade so that when you went charging backwards up the switchback, and all the water ran to the front of the boiler, there still would be something showing the in waterglass.